Baghdad Accuses Powell of Lies, After Oil

CHARLES J. HANLEY

Published 7:00 pm, Sunday, January 26, 2003

AP Special Correspondent

The Iraqi foreign minister on Monday accused U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell of a "series of lies" alleging Iraq has not cooperated with U.N. arms monitors and accused the United States of using the weapons issue as a pretext to seize Iraq's oil.

Foreign Minister Naji Sabri also described U.S. complaints about Iraqi scientists' rejection of private U.N. interviews as a diversionary tactic, stemming from Washington's failure to produce concrete evidence of any Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.

Referring to the United States and Britain, he said their goal is "to occupy the country" and "control its oil." He branded leaders of the two countries "warmongers" who "export evil to other countries."

Sabri met with reporters just hours before chief inspectors Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the U.N. nuclear agency, reported to the U.N. Security Council on what their arms teams have found and how well Iraq has cooperated in the first two months of their search for programs of chemical, biological or nuclear weapons, forbidden to Iraq since its defeat in the 1991 Gulf War.

Blix told the council that despite providing access to sites, Iraq "appears not to have come to a genuine acceptance, not even today, of the disarmament that was demanded of it."

ElBaradei said his teams still need a "few months" to complete their work. So far, they have found no evidence Iraq revived its nuclear program.

"These few months would be a valuable investment in peace because it could help avoid a war," he said.

In Brussels, Belgium, meanwhile, foreign ministers of the 15 European Union nations urged Iraq to cooperate more fully with U.N. inspectors. The EU is deeply divided over how to solve the Iraqi crisis.

Iraqis waited for the U.N. judgment day confident they will get a "gray" report _ a passing grade _ for accepting arms inspections, but wary of U.N. complaints that could help tilt the balance between war and peace. The U.S. and British governments threaten to invade this country if, in their view, it has not sufficiently complied with the U.N. disarmament demands.

Iraq looks for a U.N. report that "will present facts as they are, that Iraq is free of weapons of mass destruction," Sabri said. "And we hope the Security Council will lift the criminal sanctions on the Iraqi people."

He said Powell told a "series of lies" at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, over the weekend "about Iraq not cooperating over the last 11 years" with U.N. arms inspections.

He noted that U.N. monitors, in their new round of field missions in Iraq, have mounted almost 500 inspections without incident "to offices, guesthouses, mosques, universities, hospitals, factories, military sites."

"How were those things done without Iraqi cooperation?" he asked.

Iraq claimed last week that a Baghdad mosque was visited by U.N. inspectors Jan. 20. The United Nations said inspectors paid a private visit to the Al-Nid'a mosque but not to inspect it. There has been no reports of other visits to mosques.

During his remarks Monday to the Security Council, Blix cited the mosque flap as an example of "far-fetched allegations" made by the Iraqis to discredit the inspectors.

"The other day a sightseeing excursion by five inspectors to a mosque was followed by an unwarranted public outburst," Blix said. "The inspectors went without U.N. insignia and were welcomed in the kind manner that is characteristic of the normal Iraqi attitude to foreigners …. They asked perfectly innocent questions and parted with the invitation to come again. Shortly thereafter, we received protests from the Iraqi authorities about an unannounced inspection."

In a dramatic demonstration of their daily work, the inspectors Monday joined with Iraqi missile specialists in observing the test-firing of a missile engine at the al-Rafah testing station, 25 miles southwest of Baghdad.

American intelligence analysts suggested in October that a new al-Rafah test stand, a steel frame holding engines for test-firing, might be used for missiles with ranges longer than the 90 miles allowed under U.N. resolutions. The inspectors, who first went to al-Rafah in November, have visited more than a dozen such sites targeted by U.S. and British intelligence, without reporting any violations.

In his meeting with reporters, Sabri also described U.S. complaints about Iraqi scientists' rejection of private U.N. interviews as a diversionary tactic, stemming from Washington's failure to produce concrete evidence of any Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.

"You ask us to force them," he said. "Even in your countries can you force anybody to be interviewed?"

He said Iraq was meeting its U.N. obligation by "providing access" to weapons specialists. It is "hairsplitting," he said, to complain that the handful asked to submit to interviews without an Iraqi official monitoring _ a U.S. demand _ have refused to do so.

Inspectors feel scientists would be more candid without a government monitor present. American officials allege, without citing evidence, the Iraqi leadership has threatened to kill scientists who disclose sensitive information.

Sabri said the scientists fear that their words might be changed after private interviews. In Western countries, he asked, "can you force them to answer without the presence of their lawyer?" He said the controversy was stirred up by U.S. officials "because they have found nothing. They have no evidence, because there is nothing."

He said of Washington and London, "Their aim it to occupy the country … to control its oil." He referred to U.S. and British leaders as "warmongers" who "export evil to other countries."

Washington and London contend they know Baghdad retains weapons of mass destruction and say a refusal to surrender them may bring on a U.S.-British invasion. But the two governments have presented no proof, and much of the world wants the Security Council to allow inspections more time.

On the eve of the interim U.N. inspectors' assessment, President Saddam Hussein convened a joint meeting of his ruling Baath Party's leadership and the Revolution Command Council, Iraq's highest executive body, to discuss what official media called "political conditions."